The green shoots given by Napoli, who added seven of the previous nine points, did not bear fruit at San Siro, where rivals Barcelona in the Champions League round of 16 (the first leg on February 21 in Italy) lost 1-0 against a Milan that knows how to get the most out of it with Theo Hernández’s goal.
A sixth win in seven days allows the Rossoneri to consolidate their third place and be a point behind Juventus, who host Udinese tomorrow, while Naples’ eighth loss In Serie A, they are relegated to ninth place, seven points from the 2024-25 Champions League positions.
Mazzarri changed the system
Walter Mazzarri changed Napoli’s characteristic 4-2-3-1 formation in the first half for a 3-5-1-1, Leo Ostigard was introduced as the third central defender, with Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Pasquale Mazzocchi as wingers and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia behind Gio Simeone at forward.
in the middle Mazzarri brought back Piotr Zielinski, a regular who wasn’t even called up the day before against Verona after refusing to renew his contract. Not that the Pole has changed his mind but the Naples coach cannot do without a key player in his scheme.
Naples started well but Milan were unforgiving
The truth is that Napoli’s performance was promising because they had the ball and had a good chance to advance. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia pours one of his characteristics on the right and in his low middle Simeone finished it from point-blank range. The ball didn’t go in by a miracle (10′).
Napoli continued to dominate and lacked the depth of their game against a dense Milan but they scored on their first visit. The Rafael Leao-Theo Hernández connection worked perfectly again. The Portuguese, near the left wing, saw the rise of his teammate as inside and put a good ball into the space which the French took advantage of to beat Pierluigi Gollini on his way out (25′).
Back to 4-2-3-1 at half time
On the next play Leao tried a shot from outside the area that forced Gollini to show off, but the first half did not provide any more noteworthy actions. The game was flat and Naples failed to do any damage in a defense that lost Davide Calabria due to injury in the 37th minute, Alessandro Florenzi replaced him.
At half-time, Mazzarri decided to complete his change of system and, with the match score, he removed Ostigard to bring in Matteo Politano is looking for more offensive weight.
A more open second part
He achieved it in the second half with a change of scenery. The game is more open, with attacks on both goals. Florenzi was the first to score with a shot from outside the area blocked in two by Gollini (48′).
But a Napoli determined to score became more as the minutes ticked by. Simeone steals the ball from Ismaël Bennacer and his howitzer narrowly misses the goal (55′). Politano hit both with a threaded shot (60′).
Jovic’s letter doesn’t work this time
Leao found more space to show off his brilliant drives and with one of them he also came close to scoring (70′). Eventually Stefano Pioli played the Luka Jovic card but this time the ex-Madrid player was indecisive like in previous games.
Milan suffered against Naples’ push. He lacked success and clarity in his attacks against Barça’s rivals, but in the final moments the post saved the ‘Rossineri’ when the defender Jan Carlo Simic deflected against the post from his goal a cross from Jesper Lindstrom and with the continuation of Mike Maignan took a shot from Politano (88′).
Without Osimhen, there is no blow
Milan never took control of the game, but knew how to defend Theo Hernández’s goal against a Naples team that lacked punch in its scorer’s absence Victor Osimhen, who at the same time lost the Africa Cup final with Nigeria against Ivory Coast.
match lineup
16
2
19
4
24
46
Eleven
7
9
8
10
95
22
30
5
13
55
99
twenty
18
77
68
Giuseppe Meazza Stadium
Pierluigi Gollini95
36′
Giovanni DiLorenzo22
24′
95′
Pasquale Mazzocchi30
75′
65′
John Jesus5
84′
89′
65′
Amir Rrahmani13
Leo Ostigard55
Four. five’
80′
Frank Anguissa99
Piotr Zielinskitwenty
75′
79′
Giovanni Simeone18
54′
Khvicha Kvaratskhelia77
Stanislav Lobotka68
Replacements
Nikita Contini14
Nathan3
36′
Mathias Olivera17
75′
80′
Hamed Traore8
65′
Maybe Jens24
Jesper Lindström29
75′
65′
Leander Dendoncker32
Matteo Politanotwenty-one
Four. five’
79′
Cyril Ngonge26
89′
Giacomo Raspadori81
54′
coach
Stefano Pioli
Walter Mazzarri
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
